Papaya/single plant RDWC. LED

[NanoGadget]

Hey all. Not sure how religiously I'll update this, but Ive never kept a grow journal before (not online anyway) so I figured why not let ya'll watch as I succeed (or fail miserably ) at my first attempt at hydroponics. I've been growing in soil for over a decade but damn if I don't feel like a noob all over again. Anyway.. on to the setup.
Strain: Papaya (fem)
Space: 3x3x6 tent
Light: Solar storm 440 (pulled out of storage for this project)
Ventilation: 4" ducting with phresh filter, fans on the input and output sides
Container: Waterfarm 4210 (single standalone unit)
Medium: Hydroton
Nutes: Three part Flora series nutes (grow, bloom, micro) plus calmag, hydrogaurd and silica blast (haven't started running the silica yet)
Water source: RO system.
Misc: Hannah meters, digital timers, pH up and down

Seeds were started in rapid rooters. Sprouted 3 and picked the most vigorous of them. Transfered to the WaterFarm after some decent root development.

So far I've dealt with rapid pH fluctuations (caused by not soaking my hydroton and the very low ppm of RO), some leaf twisting and cupping (probably from a combination of VPD and a slight over feed) but she seems to be sorting herself out now. She is currently 15 days from when the sprout emerged from the seed case. Below is a picture of her from last night. I'll try to get more pics up tonight. Follow along if you want. Even if it's just to make fun of me.

 

[NanoGadget]

I almost forgot to mention, this will be a fairly open journal. Feel free to ask questions and offer advice! Just don't derail the hell out if it or come here just to post 300 pictures of your grow unless it pertains to mine (i.e. you are growing the same strain, you are having a similar issue to one that I might be dealing with etc.)

 

[NanoGadget]

Less than 2 days later than the last picture. The growth rate in hydro is truly amazing. I'm pretty sure if I sat in front of my tent long enough I could literally witness her getting bigger. Such beautiful indica leaves...

 

[SvenskiDWC]

Looking Great! Have you grown the Papaya before? What bank is it from if you dont mind me asking. Planning any training?

 

[NanoGadget]

Looking Great! Have you grown the Papaya before? What bank is it from if you dont mind me asking. Planning any training?

Never grown Papaya before. It's from Nirvana. I've always had good look with their seeds and I like that their strains mostly come from old school genetics and they've always been super stable. Ever grown a papaya before? My plan for now is to top for 4 or possibly 8 colas (depending on how bushy she gets) and use some LST to spread her out and get as even a canopy as possible. She has a 3x3x6 to herself so I want to really focus on spreading her out and get as much light on each main as possible.

 

[NanoGadget]

I'll be putting up more pics tomorrow after work. Looking to get some more shots under white light so we all get a better look a the coloration of the leaves. Always nice to have extra eyes on her in case someone spots an issue before I do.

 

[NanoGadget]

Not a ton to report today.
Tested my water when I got home from work.... pH 5.8 ppm 320 temp 66.6
She is still growing at a great pace as far as i can telll, but since this my first grow in hydro I'm not sure if it's below or above the norm. Finally starting to put on a little height. For the sake of judging growth rates the first pic I'll post is her taken on the 23rd. The rest are from today. The color is off from what she looks like under normal light as these were all either taken under the LED or under a super bright flash, but I haven't gotten to take any daytime pics yet.. you'll get the idea.. the last pic you'll see some undergrowth and side branching starting to take off.

 

[NanoGadget]

No pics today. Only new development is a tiny bit of green algae on my hydroton. Not a big deal as its a tiny bloom and my roots are pearly white, but I am going to hit my res with some h2o2 tonight anyway.

More updates and pics tomorrow night or Monday night. Have a good weekend to all.

 

[farmerfischer]

No pics today. Only new development is a tiny bit of green algae on my hydroton. Not a big deal as its a tiny bloom and my roots are pearly white, but I am going to hit my res with some h2o2 tonight anyway.

More updates and pics tomorrow night or Monday night. Have a good weekend to all.

Cover the hydroton with white/ black panda film or improvise using Styrofoam plates to reflect the light off of them and back up into the plants

 

[NanoGadget]

Cover the hydroton with white/ black panda film or improvise using Styrofoam plates to reflect the light off of them and back up into the plants

I'd seen this done with aluminum foil but I was worried that would cause hot spots. Thus seems like a much better solution! Thanks a ton

 

[farmerfischer]

I'd seen this done with aluminum foil but I was worried that would cause hot spots. Thus seems like a much better solution! Thanks a ton

As the plants grow they'll shade the hydroton. So foil could be an option. Look up hot spot prevention.
A little bit I know is with highly reflective surfaces you should burn coated or foggy bulbs. Flat white and similar clear bulbs.. This is suppose to help on hot spots from forming..
A light defuser is another option for big lights in small areas
Lol I just seen your running a solar storm.. Never mind
Air movement is all you should need

 

[NanoGadget]

As the plants grow they'll shade the hydroton. So foil could be an option. Look up hot spot prevention.
A little bit I know is with highly reflective surfaces you should burn coated or foggy bulbs. Flat white and similar clear bulbs.. This is suppose to help on hot spots from forming..
A light defuser is another option for big lights in small areas
Lol I just seen your running a solar storm.. Never mind
Air movement is all you should need

Yeah, I figure another couple weeks and it'll be well shaded. For now I'll cover it with something, keep the air moving and let the h2o2 do its job. Thanks for the help.

 

[OldMedUser]

Just spray a little peroxide on the hydroton Nano. You want them balls to breathe so you don't trap moisture around the stem and promote stem rot. I've seen it happen. As PeeWee said the leaves will soon shade the balls and stop the algae which really doesn't hurt anything. Also make sure the pots are full enough to block any light sneaking in at the first open spots in the net pots. Will probably stay dry on top if really full and algae problem solved too.

Your plant is looking really good. I really love it when they start taking off in DWC. You WILL be able to sit and watch it grow!

 

[NanoGadget]

Just spray a little peroxide on the hydroton Nano. You want them balls to breathe so you don't trap moisture around the stem and promote stem rot. I've seen it happen. As PeeWee said the leaves will soon shade the balls and stop the algae which really doesn't hurt anything. Also make sure the pots are full enough to block any light sneaking in at the first open spots in the net pots. Will probably stay dry on top if really full and algae problem solved too.

Your plant is looking really good. I really love it when they start taking off in DWC. You WILL be able to sit and watch it grow!

Much appreciated! I was wondering why you recommend spraying the h2o2 on the hydroton rather than applying it to the res directly? And if I were to spray it, how much if at all would you dilute it (it's 30% out of the bottle)
It's always nice to get positive feedback on the progress and I'm always open to good advice so we can keep her on that right track!

 

[OldMedUser]

The algae is on top of the rocks right? It's pretty harmless as it needs that light to grow so won't survive in the dark. It sounds like your nute temps are pretty low so nasties won't like it in there either. I wouldn't recommend using peroxide in the whole rez unless you have a problem. You use bennies and it will reduce them or kill them if you use too much. If you do use some for a maintenance dose then 0.5ml/L is what I used to use and up to 4ml/L if something nasty starts up.

So far I've dealt with rapid pH fluctuations (caused by not soaking my hydroton and the very low ppm of RO)

Your hydroton really doesn't need soaking. Usually just a rinse to wash off the dust is all it takes. There may have been some jump in the pH from the dust but the acidity of the nutes gets rid of that pretty quick. And RO is supposed to have very low ppm and won't make any difference to the pH one way or the other as it has none of it's own.

I'd start using that silica blast with your next change. Put it in your RO water first and let it mix in good. Then add all your nutes starting with the micro and let everything mix or stir it up if the air stone isn't mixing it. You can check the pH then but don't adjust it right away. Give it an hour to allow any reactions to complete and the pH to stabilize then carefully, drop-wise add your up or down. I always hang my pH pen in the nutes while I do that so I don't overshoot the mark. If it ends up a bit too low like even 5 you can just leave it and it should rise in a few hours of running. If after mixing it all up and is low, which I doubt it will be, leave it as well but check a few hours later. The silica will likely push the water up to 8 or more and makes a much better pH up than pH up. Very hard to give the plants too much silica other than the pH issue.

I do mine exactly like that except I don't check the pH with the pH Perfect nutes. I use Rhino Skin for the silica, 1/2 dose of CalMag, Big Bud and lately Bud Ignitor a week before the flip and OverDrive the last couple of weeks of flowering. A bit of epsom salts to boost the sulfur mainly. No bennies ever.

I recently got some OG18 clones from a buddy and as soon as I can get clones off them I want to use those to start a tub.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS . I downloaded Jorge Cervantes Grow basics books first and getting some more. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download. They got lots. Book looks great and complete like the real one.

 

[NanoGadget]

The algae is on top of the rocks right? It's pretty harmless as it needs that light to grow so won't survive in the dark. It sounds like your nute temps are pretty low so nasties won't like it in there either. I wouldn't recommend using peroxide in the whole rez unless you have a problem. You use bennies and it will reduce them or kill them if you use too much. If you do use some for a maintenance dose then 0.5ml/L is what I used to use and up to 4ml/L if something nasty starts up.



Your hydroton really doesn't need soaking. Usually just a rinse to wash off the dust is all it takes. There may have been some jump in the pH from the dust but the acidity of the nutes gets rid of that pretty quick. And RO is supposed to have very low ppm and won't make any difference to the pH one way or the other as it has none of it's own.

I'd start using that silica blast with your next change. Put it in your RO water first and let it mix in good. Then add all your nutes starting with the micro and let everything mix or stir it up if the air stone isn't mixing it. You can check the pH then but don't adjust it right away. Give it an hour to allow any reactions to complete and the pH to stabilize then carefully, drop-wise add your up or down. I always hang my pH pen in the nutes while I do that so I don't overshoot the mark. If it ends up a bit too low like even 5 you can just leave it and it should rise in a few hours of running. If after mixing it all up and is low, which I doubt it will be, leave it as well but check a few hours later. The silica will likely push the water up to 8 or more and makes a much better pH up than pH up. Very hard to give the plants too much silica other than the pH issue.

I do mine exactly like that except I don't check the pH with the pH Perfect nutes. I use Rhino Skin for the silica, 1/2 dose of CalMag, Big Bud and lately Bud Ignitor a week before the flip and OverDrive the last couple of weeks of flowering. A bit of epsom salts to boost the sulfur mainly. No bennies ever.

I recently got some OG18 clones from a buddy and as soon as I can get clones off them I want to use those to start a tub.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS . I downloaded Jorge Cervantes Grow basics books first and getting some more. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download. They got lots. Book looks great and complete like the real one.

Great insights! I was planning on starting silica when I do my res change on Monday night, so it's good to get some pointers on adding that. As far as the h2o2 goes, I'm still considering going sterile on this run. I mean, my res temps are good and I'm using inorganic nutes, so I'm not sure I see the advantage of going beneficial. I will be doing a complete res change in my WaterFarm every 10 to 14 days (this will probably change as the rate of transportation goes up) so I suppose I can experiment and if I find one method is giving me better results I can stick with it. Any insight you have as to why one is better than the other is welcome. Thanks again!

 

[NanoGadget]

And now I've done a bunch more reading and damn if I'm not more confused than when I started. The hydrogaurd does seem to be working so maybe I'll stick with it. If I just wanted to spray some h2o2 on the hydroton like you recommend how much would I want to dilute 29% to apply in this fashion?

 

[OldMedUser]

Are you not using the hydroguard? If not then peroxide should be OK tho most modern nutes are more than just the bare salts of yesteryear and contain organic compounds like amino acids that can be affected by peroxide. Anything organic can be oxidized tho bad bacteria are anaerobic and attract the radical oxygen molecule released by the peroxide much more than the good aerobic bacteria.

If everything is working well I don't change my nutes until after the stretch. With one small plant in your setup it's hardly eating anything so you will be tossing out perfectly good nutes. I start clones in DWC at about 300ppm then once they start to flourish bump up the ppm to around 500 then go up from there a bit at a time. A week before flipping I'll give them another bump up with extra Bloom and a half dose of Big Bud and Bud Ignitor to "prime the pump" so to say in readiness for flowering. They feed heaviest during the stretch and need lots of everything to do their best.

After the stretch is when I may or may not do a complete change. Sometimes I never change and it works just fine. I'm not saying that this is the way YOU should do it I'm just saying that it's the way I do it. There is no logical reason I can find to change the nutes on a regular basis like laid out in the feeding charts, which I ignore, when plants are small and just sipping the nutes. The people that make the nutes would like you to change nutes weekly so you have to run out and buy more nutes more often.

I maintain or bump up the ppm by adding small amounts of the nutes as the grow progresses. First I top up with RO water and allow time for things to mix then test the ppm, add nutes as required to get the ppm on target and in your case test the pH and adjust if needed. No use testing the pH until everything that can affect the pH has been added.

With the 3-part nutes you should feed less Bloom than the other two during veg. About 1/3 as much so your mix should be in the G-M-B ratio of 3-3-1 then the boost just before flipping should be 1-1-2 so they have the extra P and K that is needed for bigger flowers. Or 1-1-1 if adding bloom boosters at that time. After the stretch stop using the Grow and use 1/2 as much Micro as Bloom like is done using the Lucas formula to lower levels of N during later flowering. Feeding drops dramatically after stretch so if I do a change then I will also go with a lower ppm than I was running just before I boosted for the stretch. 1/2 to 2/3 as much is plenty. Helps prevent salts buildup in the leaves that will usually start around weeks 5 - 6 if the ppm is to high. If temps are high and RH is low then 1/2 would be my target. The plants transpire a lot more in those conditions and will draw up more nutes with the water than they can use so it builds up in the leaves and burns them.

And now I've done a bunch more reading and damn if I'm not more confused than when I started. The hydrogaurd does seem to be working so maybe I'll stick with it. If I just wanted to spray some h2o2 on the hydroton like you recommend how much would I want to dilute 29% to apply in this fashion?

Dilute the peroxide 10:1 to be around 3% and spray a bit on the algae and it should be gone in no time. That way you won't affect the hydroguard at all. I've never used stuff like that but if it's working then you should be fine. I chill my tubs to 65F so don't get root rot. I've only chilled my nutes the last few times I've done DWC so the 40+ ones I did before that I used H2O2 twice a week as a maintenance dose.

 

[NanoGadget]

Are you not using the hydroguard? If not then peroxide should be OK tho most modern nutes are more than just the bare salts of yesteryear and contain organic compounds like amino acids that can be affected by peroxide. Anything organic can be oxidized tho bad bacteria are anaerobic and attract the radical oxygen molecule released by the peroxide much more than the good aerobic bacteria.

If everything is working well I don't change my nutes until after the stretch. With one small plant in your setup it's hardly eating anything so you will be tossing out perfectly good nutes. I start clones in DWC at about 300ppm then once they start to flourish bump up the ppm to around 500 then go up from there a bit at a time. A week before flipping I'll give them another bump up with extra Bloom and a half dose of Big Bud and Bud Ignitor to "prime the pump" so to say in readiness for flowering. They feed heaviest during the stretch and need lots of everything to do their best.

After the stretch is when I may or may not do a complete change. Sometimes I never change and it works just fine. I'm not saying that this is the way YOU should do it I'm just saying that it's the way I do it. There is no logical reason I can find to change the nutes on a regular basis like laid out in the feeding charts, which I ignore, when plants are small and just sipping the nutes. The people that make the nutes would like you to change nutes weekly so you have to run out and buy more nutes more often.

I maintain or bump up the ppm by adding small amounts of the nutes as the grow progresses. First I top up with RO water and allow time for things to mix then test the ppm, add nutes as required to get the ppm on target and in your case test the pH and adjust if needed. No use testing the pH until everything that can affect the pH has been added.

With the 3-part nutes you should feed less Bloom than the other two during veg. About 1/3 as much so your mix should be in the G-M-B ratio of 3-3-1 then the boost just before flipping should be 1-1-2 so they have the extra P and K that is needed for bigger flowers. Or 1-1-1 if adding bloom boosters at that time. After the stretch stop using the Grow and use 1/2 as much Micro as Bloom like is done using the Lucas formula to lower levels of N during later flowering. Feeding drops dramatically after stretch so if I do a change then I will also go with a lower ppm than I was running just before I boosted for the stretch. 1/2 to 2/3 as much is plenty. Helps prevent salts buildup in the leaves that will usually start around weeks 5 - 6 if the ppm is to high. If temps are high and RH is low then 1/2 would be my target. The plants transpire a lot more in those conditions and will draw up more nutes with the water than they can use so it builds up in the leaves and burns them.



Dilute the peroxide 10:1 to be around 3% and spray a bit on the algae and it should be gone in no time. That way you won't affect the hydroguard at all. I've never used stuff like that but if it's working then you should be fine. I chill my tubs to 65F so don't get root rot. I've only chilled my nutes the last few times I've done DWC so the 40+ ones I did before that I used H2O2 twice a week as a maintenance dose.

I am indeed using hydrogaurd. And my res temps are always solid. The roots look great, which is why I started to rethink running the h2o2 in the res. I don't want to kill the bacillus in the hydrogaurd and create a bunch of dead anaerobic mess in my res... sounds like a recipe for root rot. I'll just use a dilute dose on the surface of the hydroton, cover it up from the light and stop worrying about it. Lol!

 

[NanoGadget]

It was also recently recommend to me to try a cocktail of voodoo juice and my hydrogaurd. So many options, so many opinions... hahaha